'Thor 2' Post-Credits Scene: Who is That Guy and What Does It All Mean?

If you stuck around in theaters this weekend (and we're sure you did), you saw the 'Thor 2' post-credits scene and might have a few questions. (For the purposes of this article, we'll focus on the more interesting mid-credits scene and not on the sillier sequence at the very end.) So, who was that guy? And what is he talking about?

That weird character that Sif and Volstagg meet at the end of 'Thor 2' is The Collector, played by Benicio Del Toro in Marvel's upcoming 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' Described by director James Gunn (who also directed the 'Thor 2' post-credits scene) as an "outer space Liberace," the character (real name Taneleer Tivan) is one of the Elders of the Universe who began collecting "interesting artifacts and life forms" from across the universe. He also foresaw a future where Thanos (the evil purple dude at the end of 'The Avengers') would become powerful enough to be a threat to the entire universe and used his museum of sorts to keep various artifacts safe. This is why the Aether is delivered to him, but he may have ulterior motives.

The Infinity Gauntlet is a glove that holds six gems that control Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality and Power, giving the user complete control over the multiverse. The Aether is actually one of the gems of the Infinity Gauntlet and when The Collector says, "One down, five to go," he's speaking of collecting all of the Infinity gems. Kevin Feige has also confirmed that the Tesseract, seen in 'The Avengers,' is also the Space gem, meaning that two of the Infinity gems are already in play. (Reportedly, the plot of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' follows the Guardians attempt to retrieve another of the Infinity gems.)

In the comics, The Collector is unaware that the gems he's in possession of are actually Infinity gems until Thanos comes and steals them from him. Clearly, in the 'Thor 2' post-credits scene, he knows what he's receiving; the question is, is The Collector is working with Thanos to collect the gems or working to keep them away from Thanos? Considering both appear in 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' we'll find out on August 1 when that film hits theaters. All of this is setting up what will culminate in Phase 3 with the Infinity Gauntlet storyline in 'Avengers 3.'